For successful entrepreneurs, approaching the daily challenges of the business world can be a lot like drinking a strong cup of coffee — it can be stimulating, but can also keep us awake at night. Budgets, deadlines, and responsibilities all mount to send our stress levels soaring. A question I’m often asked is: Can stress cause weight gain? The answer, unfortunately, is yes.
Information about our environment is constantly bombarding us via our five senses. While we’re generally aware of the conscious thoughts that control our personalities, traits and actions, the primitive part of our brain works 24/7 automatically responding to what our subconscious believes is in our best interest: survival. Historically, our species has had to contend with two very important and real threats. The first was starvation, and the second was injury or death at the hands of predators or rivals.
Fast-forward to the present and our landscape has changed, even though our bodies are still responding as if they were living in the past. Starvation? Not a problem. Hunting and gathering is now limited to the grocery store, restaurants, and our refrigerators. Our body’s chemistry is, however, in perpetual fight-or-flight mode. This has led to a condition I’ve termed autonomic confusion. The autonomic nervous system is what controls the automatic responses I’ve been describing. Our brain is often confused as to how the body should respond to these threats. Is it living on easy street, or is it under constant attack?
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